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Topic: Verlux/Verlys Help please... (Read 3654 times)

... Yes, chemical prices have shot through the roof and so has the cost of issuing Health & Safety procedures. I guess that our rules & regulations are basically the same where this is concerned? I took my equiment to India for a while, where access to additives was a breeze and costs were low.It's my understanding, that USA and Cezchoslovakia, are the only countries today who are still using Uranium for some of their glass?, though of course we all hope under the strictest of working conditions! As for Lalique, I also have a few pre-war pieces and more from the mid-20th onwards. Much of which as you say is not as expensive as one would imagine, BUT, move onto the colours and the more desirable items and they are still worth their weights in gold. Many collectors of course will have some of the more "common" items and so there is still a huge demand for the rarer Lalique. The dynasty has long gone and the designers at Lalique today certainly do not rock my boat. They sure wouldn't be what they are without the historical name and the incredible designs of yesteryear. Much Loetz, Carder and Tiffany will still command high prices, and rightfully so too., as does the cameo glass of say Webb or Stephens & Williams... amazing glass it is. I believe that Lalique is now owned by the Swiss??? And it is testimony that even today their most successful sales are from re-introductions of R Laliques incredible works, and their crystal recipe has not altered since its redevelopment by Marc... I have not collected for profit. I collect what I like and what I can live with, as I suppose most collectors would agree, and personal interests change through the decades, as does fashionable design. Each to their own (and I'll probably start a war here) but most modern glass just doesn't do it for me. I appreciate the ways in which it is produced etc. but give me the older stuff any day... I think that we may be guilty of side-tracking here from the original question, but I find these discussions interesting...

Well, I'd certainly want more than just a licence, to go anywhere near the stuff, let alone work with it. I wonder how many of the population in Warickshire, are aware that they have uranium being used, right under their very noses, in the name of Art? Tell me, do they fluoresce at night, like the Readybrek adds! (smile)

" You can use it in the UK if you get a licence and some people do/have (Adam Aaronson, Richard Golding) "

Hi Lustrousstone, I have received this message from Richard Golding this morning...

“ Morning John, Apart from a water jug set I made for an American Vaseline glass collector many years ago I haven't used uranium. Hope this helps. Best wishes, Richard. Sent from my iPhone "

It is very unlikely that any English glassworker today uses Uranium, unless it is under the most strick conditions within the fireld of science. It is also highly unlikely that Adam, would obtain licence to use Uranium oxide at his studio in Earls Court, to produce any of his freeblown works, however I am waiting for his reply to me also. Small objects such as jewellery beads perhaps, still use Uranium oxide as a colourant, however these tiny objects are machine manufactured and again within safety-confined conditions, and to my knowledge not in the United Kingdom. John

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I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you are trying to prove. Adam himself gave me that information in person. He had used it for animals if I remember rightly. And Richard Golding has just confirmed that he has used uranium (it was in 2006 to be exact). Uranium glass has also been used relatively recently in Scotland. At the Scotland's Glass conference in Edinburgh in 2010 to celebrate 440 years of glassmaking one of the Edinburgh College of Art students provided a "troll" make of uranium glass as one of the auction items. Kate Williams is another example http://www.katewilliams.org.uk/gallery/powerstations.htm

Depleted uranium is not classified as a dangerous substance radiologically, though it is a potential hazard in large quantities, beyond what could conceivably be breathed. Its emissions are very low, since the half-life of U-238 is the same as the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years). There are no reputable reports of cancer or other negative health effects from radiation exposure to ingested or inhaled natural or depleted uranium, despite much study.

I used uranium salts in a prcatical class at college, as well as quite routinely at work.DU is not dangerous. The low-level radiation does not penetrate far or through much.I'd be far happier surrounded by DU than stuck in the middle of a traffic jam surrounded by petrol fumes.

... with respect, I am not trying "to prove" anything, we are not arguing here, just relaying the information at our disposal, for the good benefit of all. I am not suggesting for one moment that Uranium is used by the bucket load by all and sundry. It is true that uranium "glass" can be used and still is... I have used the glass myself as pre-produced soda glass rods, and yes it can probably still be purchased to create animals etc., as in this state it causes no threat, but to imagine for one moment that glass blower's knock up a batch in their studio, length and breadth of England, is simply not true, and you could apply for a "licence" until the cows come home and it would be refused... Let alone being able to purchase Uranium in its oxide form.... If you could find a supplier. My ORIGINAL post regarding this topic, suggested "that it was my understanding that USA and Czechoslovakia were the only countries who actively use/make/produce uranium glass today..." I still believe that is the case and I am not trying to suggest anything else. URANIUM GLASS, is NOT the same as Uranium oxide... And that if you like, is my point. John

That was exactly my case in point.. Not the use of Uraium Glass as such, but the use of Uranium itself, and where. Anyway, we all be steering clear of this original post and going off on tangents. It most certainly is a healthy debate which should be continued, but has little to do with Verlux/Verlys.... perhaps?

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